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We took a look at the good and bad of the return to play information we have so far. Sunday will be one month until the proposed start, which would mean roughly 2 weeks until camps start. A lot still needs to happen, so we’ll hope that it’s heading the right direction.
Steve Yzerman has thinned the herd a bit by sending Timashov over to the Isles. Lamoriello is very familiar with the player, and the acquisition price is TBD (future considerations). With the bottom 6 more than full currently, the player will probably have a better shot with the Isles of more minutes. He’s still RFA, and may have wanted more term or $ than Yzerman wanted to commit at this point.
In prospect news, George Malik forwarded this on earlier today. Wings prospect Theodore Niederbach is centering Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz at the team Sweden WJC. Promising to have a center and winger together on that line. Detroit needs a centerman to earn some acclaim and give us a boost at that position.
Finally, I’ve spent the last 24 hours pouring over the Forbes valuations of the NHL franchises. From the magazine:
2020 NHL team values by Forbes. Average team values dropped to $653 million, down 2 percent from last year.
Revenue dropped 14 percent for the 2019-20 season to $4.4 million, with operating income falling 68 percent to $250 million.
The New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins accounted for nearly a quarter of the NHL’s revenue last year.
A deep dive in the the list (worth the time if you have it) made some really interesting facts pop up. First, discrepancy. You can see that 5 teams made 25% of the revenue for the NHL last year. Rangers, Leafs, Canadiens, Blackhawks and Bruins are helping to carry a lot of franchises. The top to bottom discrepancy in Team Values is eye opening.
The New York Rangers clock in at 1.65 billion for top dog. The Arizona Coyotes total team value is estimated at 285 million. Almost 1/6th of the value. AZ posted an operating revenue of -17 million with a debt to value ration of 105%. Meaning, if they sold at market value of 285 million, they would still not be able to pay off all of their debts (5% leftover).
15 teams in total showed a NEGATIVE operating budget for last year. The Isles and Panthers lost 38 million and 29 million respectively. That is more than a little concerning. The Senators just barely missed the positive side by 2.9 million. The teams that came in the losses are: Isles, Panthers, Coyotes, Sharks, Hurricanes, Predators, Sabres, Avalanche, Blue Jackets, Ducks, Lightning, Blues, Jets, Wild and Senators. It is a tough slice to see that the past two Stanley Cup winners are both in the losing columns. St. Louis lost 8.2 million and the Lightning lost 8.3 million. The lightning would have been well into the gain columns with fans in seats. Playing 22 games would have seen approximately 11 home games of ticket revenue (roughly 18 million). Not to mention the remaining regular season games.
Total revenue losses for those 15 franchises is roughly 200 million. The highest reported revenue was 87 million (NYR), That’s just 6 million over the salary cap. In layman’s terms? The best performing team in the league paid almost all of its operating revenue in player salaries. 30 teams didn’t make enough to cover them. Remember the 50/50 split? This, hopefully, gives a stronger picture of how far off of that split the players really are. Back to that 30 million all the teams are getting from Seattle. It isn’t a drop in the bucket on covering the split last year. For some teams, it basically puts them above the “losing” revenue column. We’re still moving forward with similar revenues as the season begins. Put this nugget in your back pocket, if losses look anything like this for 2021, serious changes have to be made.
The good news for Detroit fans is that the Red Wings are sitting 8th in the league with a franchise valued at 775 million (only a 3 percent drop in value) and only a 10% debt ratio. What’s really impressive is that arena debts are included in that ratio. For a team with a brand new arena that finished dead last in the league and missed a chunk of regular season games, that is really good news. As Detroit builds a competitive team, ticket revenues will continue to climb. The Ilitch family (God bless them) kept arena staff on salary throughout the summer. If you live in Detroit, or drive through, you will see that Mike and Marion have helped keep the city from being a ghost town.
In 2020, no franchise saw a raise in value. Only 7 teams maintained their value from the year before. 24 teams are worth less than they were. It’s worth keeping an eye on. It makes a little more sense seeing Buffalo cut office staff with a 10 million dollar budget deficit. There are two sides to the sport we love. The players on the ice, and the owners who make it happen. There has to be a balance in respect for both. I’ve seen articles condemning ownership as greedy and spiteful (if not soulless) entities and the players as victims being thrown into poverty. I’ve also seen fans frustrated with players who make more in a year than most will see in a lifetime to play a game. The NHL can’t exist without both of these parties. Both are looking for their interests, to be sure. There are owners who rake in a lot of money. There are also owners who operate at a loss year after year. We, as fans, need to be able and step back and listen. You’ve all seen my concern for player take-home pay. The reason it concerns me that they lose 60 or 70% of their checks is life after hockey. Most will need to rejoin the workforce in some capacity and may have sever injuries/depression/addiction issues that make that difficult.
I genuinely care about both sides, unfortunately there isn’t much press regarding the revenue issues the owners face. I just want all of us to take a big step backward and look at what it takes to make this sport work. The current system isn’t sustainable. Take a look at that chart and it’s clear that 6 or 7 teams could easily drop off if the losses continue to mount. That is a reality that no one wants. Count it a blessing if your team is in a stable situation and can weather the storm for now. In Detroit, a man who blew out his shoulder as a minor league pitcher started making pizzas in a bar in Garden City. He worked his tail off and because of that, we have the Red Wings. It’s a great story, and worthy of remembrance. Because of a lifetime of work, Detroit will have hockey once again.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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